Browsing: Europe

Talking Europe hosts Italian former prime minister Enrico Letta, who is now president of the Jacques Delors Institute. Letta has been tasked by the European institutions to produce a report on the future of the EU single market, which is due to be discussed by the bloc’s leaders next spring. He argues that the single market is under pressure from inside and outside, and that common solutions need to be found. He also calls for a “tailor-made” Stability and Growth Pact to take account of nuances between EU member states, as well as the impact of the crises that the EU has faced in the last three years.

In this debate we focus on the recent election results in Poland and Slovakia, and discuss what they mean for Europe. Liberals across the continent are cheering after Polish opposition parties won enough seats to form a majority, potentially ending eight years of rule by the conservative Law and Justice party. Meanwhile nationalists in Europe have applauded the return to power of Robert Fico in Slovakia. The populist prime minister has struck an agreement with two other parties; a coalition that could set a different tone in relations with Brussels, as well as on key issues such as Ukraine and migration.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday signed a law revoking Russia’s ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, a move strongly criticised by the United States.

Her partner has been missing since her body was found.

Dean Gregory and Claire Staniforth were told they can’t take their daughter to an Italian hospital.

At least one person has died and more than a million households were left without electricity in France on Thursday morning as Storm Ciaran struck western Europe overnight, bringing some of the highest wind speeds the region has witnessed in decades.

Much of northwestern Europe went on high alert Wednesday as a storm dubbed Ciaran threatened to bring gale force winds and extreme rainfall to the region. Three French departments — Finistere, Cotes-d’Armor and Manche — will be placed on red storm alert, the highest level, at midnight (2300 GMT), national weather agency Meteo-France said. Meanwhile thirty other departments including Paris and its surrounding regions are placed on orange alert.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Tuesday vowed a “merciless fight” against surging anti-Semitism after residents of the French capital discovered anti-Jewish graffiti on buildings in several districts. Paris prosecutors have launched a probe into the incident as a possible hate crime. “The Israel-Hamas conflict is clearly being imported into France,” representative council of French Jewish institutions Robert Ejnes said.

France has placed three departments in western France on red alert as Storm Ciaran is expected to hit the country’s northwest on Wednesday evening and warned residents in the departments concerned to avoid any travel overnight.

French President Emmanuel Macron heads to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan on Wednesday, aiming to boost France’s profile in a region where Russia, China, Turkey and Europe are all jostling for influence.

Fabricated magazine covers imitating Titanic and Leman publications allege to show Ukrainian President Zelensky ‘jealous’ of the recent media attention on Israel. These fake covers were mostly shared by Russian language social media accounts; a well-known disinformation tactic employed by the Kremlin to discredit Ukraine. We tell you more in this edition of Truth or Fake. 

The Spanish soccer official who provoked a players’ rebellion and reckoning on gender when he kissed an unwilling star player on the lips at the Women’s World Cup final trophy ceremony was banned for three years on Monday by the sport’s global governing body.

Police are investigating how the dog managed to leave the third-floor balcony in Rome.

French President Emmanuel Macron looked to cement his legacy, and take on political opponents, with the inauguration on Monday of a monument to the French language deep in far-right heartland.

Dagestan: Mob storms Russian airport in search of Jews Israel has urged Russia to protect “all its citizens and all Jews” after a large mob…

French football plunged into a new abyss of violence after the Olympique de Marseille v Olympique Lyonnais game was called off when the visitors’ bus was pelted with stones and beer bottles, injuring Lyon coach Fabio Grosso on Sunday.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday his government plans to enshrine abortion rights in the constitution to make them “irreversible”.

It occurred in Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Barcelona.

Can you guess the number one spot?

Thousands of demonstrators protested in Paris on Saturday in a banned march in “support of the Palestinian people” AFP correspondents saw.

Talking Europe hosts Andrej Plenkovic, the prime minister of Croatia. We unpack the dense agenda of the October 26-27 EU Council and debrief the summit’s conclusions on the Israel-Hamas war, particularly the call for “humanitarian corridors and pauses” to ensure aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. We also discuss developments in southeastern Europe, such as the recent re-introduction of border checks, and ask what those mean for Croatia and the other countries concerned.

Almost a month into the war between Israel and Hamas, the European Union is still struggling to speak with one voice. While EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has expressed unconditional support for Israel, some of her own staff have signed a letter criticising her position, along with employees from other EU institutions. Some EU member states continue to express strong support for Israel, such as the Czech Republic and Hungary, while others worry that such stances may harm the bloc’s image.

EU leaders on Thursday failed to convince Kosovo and Serbia to make a breakthrough in the protracted push to normalise ties between the two Balkan neighbours.

Last year, ferocious wildfires destroyed thousands of hectares of one of France’s most picturesque forests. Now French authorities are battling an invasion of beetles that are devouring the weakened pines of La Teste-de-Buch, in the southwestern region of Gironde.

The name is too long to fit in here.